A COUNCIL leader has demanded schools considering becoming academies put their plans to full postal ballots – believing they are treating parents with “contempt”.

Sefton council leader Cllr Peter Dowd waded into the row over proposals for seven secondaries in the borough to cut free from town hall control and become centrally funded academies.

Parents and community officials have staged protests in the belief the schools are not being transparent enough over the academy plans which, if approved, are due to come into force as early as September.

Funded directly by the government, academies are free to set their own curriculum and pay and conditions.

The seven Sefton secondaries set to become academies are Maghull’s Deyes High, Maghull High School, Birkdale High School, Chesterfield High School, Greenbank High School, Formby High and fellow Formby secondary, Range High School.

The schools have pledged to consider parents’ views in written consultation feedback forms, but demands by parents for governors meetings to discuss the academy plans to be thrown open to the public have so far be in vain. Calls for parent ballots and public meetings on the plans also appear to have been snubbed.

And today Cllr Peter Dowd said a full ballot not just for current parents but families at feeder primary schools was only right for such a “seismic” potential change to Sefton’s educational landscape.

“I think all the schools should go through the ballot process as the feeling is they have not fully engaged with parents on the academy proposals.

“On such a seismic change it is not enough to restrict consultation to a few letters and I think the ballot should include parents of children at feeder primary schools as it these children who will be going to these schools in the future. I have no issue about standards and I’m not getting into the debate about the merits of academies, but it’s about the engagement with parents and at the moment consultation with parents is bordering on contempt.”

Five of the schools: Birkdale High School, Chesterfield High School, Deyes High School, Greenbank High School and Maghull High School issued a joint press statement to unveil their academy plans pledging to listen to parents' views and listing greater curriculum freedoms among benefits of conversion. The group’s point of contact was not available for comment. And despite repeated attempts to discuss demands parents made for a parental ballot during a protest outside the school, Deyes High School failed to return the ECHO’s calls.

Range and Formby high schools did respond, but would not be drawn on calls for a parental ballot.

In identical statements they said their governing bodies had “passed a resolution to move to a formal consultation on and investigation of academy status.

“All staff, parents, and other stakeholders have the opportunity in the consultation process to express their views, which the governing body will then consider at the end of the consultation period.”